Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)

Bandō Shūka I as Danshichi’s wife Okaji (団七おかぢ) on the left and Seki Sanjurō III as the wife of Giheiji (義平次ばゞア) of Mikawa-cho in the play Shinzō tsurifune kidan [新造艣奇談?]

Print

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Date:07/1852
Dimensions:9.5 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Medium:Japanese color woodblock print
Inscription:Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher's seal possibly reads: 相金
(Not in Marks)
Date seal: 7/1852
Censors' seals: Kinugasa and Murata
Links British Museum - a related diptych by Kuniyoshi
Lyon Collection - another Kuniyoshi version of this diptych Description:This diptych commemorates a performance at the Ichimura Theater 1852/04. Since this print acts as a substitute for the story of Danshichi slaying his father-in-law with his wife and his mother-in-law it can only be understood as a mitate.

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This is a particularly curious diptych which shows the wife of Danshichi Kurobei about to slay Danshichi's mother-in-law. Acts of violence by women in Japanese prints are not unknown, but this one is different in that it replaces the figure of Danshichi, who often can be seen wearing a red and white plaid garment, about to kill his father-in-law Goheiji. This is simply a gender substitution. Sadly, we don't know what the play this scene is from, but the parallels are more than evident.

Of course, this situation raises a number of questions which as of now we are unable to answer. If Okaji is about to slay Goheiji's wife, does that mean that she about to kill her own mother? Or, had her mother died and been replaced by a step-mother? We will try to answer this question after further research.

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There is another copy of this diptych in the Muzeum Sztuki i Techniki Japońskiej Manggha, Krakow.
Related entities Bandō Shūka I (初代坂東しうか: from 11/1839 to 11/1854) (actor)
Seki Sanjūrō III (三代目関三十郎: 4/1840 to 12/1870) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Danshichi Kurobei (団七九郎兵衛) (role)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)

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